Broadcom Intros Its First LTE-Advanced Radio

Broadcom today announced its first 4G modem for smartphones and tablets. Broadcom has long made mobile processors and 3G modems, but this is its first foray into the LTE market. The BCM21892 was manufactured with a 28nm processes, which Broadcom says reduces the overall footprint of the chip by 35% when compared to competitors' products and also consumes 25% less power. The modem does not, however, include a processor, such as Qualcomm's SnapDragon line. The BCM21892 supports all 3GPP standards, including LTE-Advanced, LTE (category 4, with speeds up to 150Mbps), HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, and GSM/EDGE. It supports IMS and can deliver HD voice and VoLTE for carriers interested in those services. The chip is now sampling to Broadcom's customers, but Broadcom doesn't expect full production to begin until 2014.